Wyoming Lottery CEO: More games needed

Wyoming Lottery CEO Jon Clontz, who worked for the Oregon Lottery, is building the Wyoming system from the ground up.Photo courtesy Warehouse Twenty One

Retailers will be able to sell Powerball and Mega Millions in three months; Clontz says scratch tickets needed

The Wyoming Lottery Corporation may add more games in addition to the Powerball and Mega Millions tickets it will begin selling Aug. 24, according to its CEO, Jon Clontz.

That may include more draw games — lotteries where people buy tickets for regular drawings — as well as scratch tickets and raffles, Clontz said Wednesday during an interview at the Powell Tribune office.

“I’m pretty confident by next year, we’ll have a couple new draw games in the portfolio,” he said.

“I’d like to see scratch tickets come in,” Clontz said. “They’re fun. People like them. I’m getting asked a lot about them. Me personally, I hope we get to do scratch tickets.”

Video lottery, scratch tickets and other forms of “immediate gratification gambling” are banned under the HB 77, which was signed into law by Gov. Matt Mead on March 13, 2013. It allowed Wyoming to establish its own lottery and enter into agreements with other lottery associations for multi-state games.

Clontz said he knows the Legislature and governor would have to modify the law to allow scratch tickets or video lottery.

“That would have to happen,” he said.

The board can add a Wyoming-specific lottery, raffles or other forms of gambling, he said. It does not need permission from the state to do so.

Clontz said he sees the need for more games to get more people to play. Wyoming has an estimated 380,000 people over 18 who legally can play the games, he said.

They want more options. Adding a state drawing, perhaps something called “Cowboy Lotto” or a similar name, would bring more revenue in, Clontz said.

People who live in adjoining states also want other gambling options, he said. Some want to buy lottery tickets, scratch tickets and maybe play video lottery or a table game, all at the same time.

In Oregon, the state lottery conducts a pair of raffles a year and they are very popular and successful, he said. Raffles may be added in Wyoming as well.

While earlier reports suggested the state hoped to bring in up to $20 million in revenue from the games, Clontz said it will fall short of that in its first 12 months.

He said a more likely scenario is for it to bring in $13 million to $17 million. He said more games are needed to hit the $20 million target.

After expenses, including start-up costs, paying off a $1 million loan and paying prizes — which will take up between 35 and 45 percent of revenue — $6 million would go to counties, cities and towns and the remaining amount to the common school account in the state land trust fund.

“It’s not going to be a whole lot in the first year or two,” Clontz said.

Greek partner

The technical side of the lottery is being handled by Intralot, a Greek gambling company with U.S. headquarters in suburban Atlanta. It is one of the three major gambling vendors in the nation. Intralot was chosen over GTECH and Scientific Games, and Clontz said he is impressed by his new partner.

Intralot will get 11.89 percent of sales, and for that it will provide the machinery, maintenance, training and marketing assistance. The WLC and Intralot agreed to a five-year deal, with three five-year options, on March 20.

The lottery bill will sunset after six years and must be reauthorized to continue. Attempts to create a lottery system in the state failed for nearly 30 years — Mike Enzi, before he was a U.S. senator, was a leading opponent. But that changed in 2013.

Wyoming was the 44th state to authorize a lottery, and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also allow such gambling. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Utah and Nevada, which has allowed legalized gambling for close to a century, do not have lottery games.

Businesses can apply Wednesday

WyoLotto, as it is branded, will begin accepting applications from Wyoming retail business owners who want to sell tickets at their retail locations at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Applications will be available online at wyolotto.com.

Clontz said he thinks between 400 and 450 businesses will be allowed to sell lottery tickets. They will get to keep 6 percent of the sales and a bonus for winners they sold.

Some lotteries and states offer large bonuses for major winners, with stores getting a slice of multi-million-dollar prizes. Clontz said he doesn’t anticipate offering such bonuses at first, but that may change as WyoLotto gets more financially stable.

The businesses must be able to pay out up to $599 when winning tickets are presented to them. Larger winners will be paid out by the lottery.

The process to select what businesses will be allowed to sell lottery tickets is underway, Clontz said, and must be completed fairly soon.

He said fairness will be the goal as it’s decided who will be allowed to sell lottery tickets. As companies fill out the required forms, background investigations are conducted and other guidelines followed, it all will get sorted out.

“The process is going to determine that,” Clontz said.

But he said if there is a tough call to make, it will land on his desk.

Businesses can lose the right to sell lottery tickets if they repeatedly cannot pay winners, violate rules or have low sales. But he said the lottery wants to assist businesses and will not disqualify anyone for a minor problem or for failing to fill out an application properly.

“I can tell you we’re doing everything we can to make sure everyone has a fair chance,” Clontz said.

The lottery wants to ensure there are enough outlets in the bigger cities in the state, on areas bordering other states and in high-traffic areas, he said. Research will be conducted and a daily data check of sales will be studied.

“Every city, town and burg was looked at,” said Clontz, who has been traveling across the state repeatedly since he took the job in late 2013.

He said the introduction of lottery in Wyoming is expected to reduce sales in adjoining states, since Wyoming residents sometimes cross borders to buy tickets. Colorado and Nebraska are forecasting 10-percent drops in sales.

The Wyoming Lottery may see a boost from another state, he said, since gamblers from the Salt Lake City area may dash across the state line to buy some tickets.

“I think so,” Clontz said.

Army intelligence background

Clontz has a background in gambling, or “gaming,” as he and others who work in the field prefer to call it. He spent two years as the deputy director and chief operating officer for the Oregon Lottery before taking the post in Wyoming.

He is paid $160,000 a year, just a $3,000 increase from his job in Oregon and far less than another opportunity he had, he said. But Clontz said he and his wife Renee, a licensed respiratory therapist who sold an oxygen and specialty products business she had developed when they came here last fall, always liked Wyoming and looked forward to living here.

They bought 8.5 acres of land in Cheyenne, are having a house built and are setting down roots there. They have two sons, one 19 and one 4.

Clontz said he was also attracted to the idea of building the lottery from the ground up and is relishing the challenge.

“I really do. That’s what interested me initially,” he said. “It’s not something that comes around every day.”

Before he joined the Oregon Lottery, he worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington state for more than eight years. Clontz worked for a private long-term health care prior to that, where he opened a 120-bed care facility in Washington state.

Clontz also served six years in military intelligence in the Army, where he was stationed in forward-listening positions in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in South Korea, as well as in Alaska and Germany.

“Sort of like a scout,” he said. Clontz can speak Russian.

A San Antonio, Texas, native, he earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in colleges in Washington state and also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Tribune Publisher Dave Bonner, who is a member of the lottery board, sat in on part of the interview. Bonner said he feels Clontz is doing an excellent job getting statewide gambling up and running in Wyoming.

“It’s a terrific team,” he said. “He has put together a good team, and he always stresses that.”

That eight-member team works for the Wyoming Lottery Corporation. While it was established by the state, they are not considered state employees, Clontz said, and not a dime of state money is used. It’s a “quasi-governmental” agency, he said, and will depend on proceeds from its sales to function.

Those sales will start in three months. Getting everything ready for the Aug. 24 kickoff is a challenge, Clontz admits, but one he looks forward to meeting.

2 comments

The new and 'Unconstitutional' Lottery TAX Law has been imposed upon us without our consent and was NOT the Wyoming State government's right to enact in the first place.

Not upon a Free People!

It's the Peoples' choice and none other!

Neither is it the State Government's appropriate function to engage itself in such extra-curricular gimmicks and schemes which subliminally and maliciously extract our hard-earned dollars by creating yet another tax revenue stream (by-way of the Lottery) without our consent. A very poor and immoral replacement method contrary to exercising truly good business management judgment, techniques and skills.

This matter is not unlike a present issue of contention here in Sheridan concerning the forced Fluoridation of our drinking water without our consent.

And as was done by the State Legislature and the Governor in stripping our right to our voice and vote by trying to circumvent our State Constitution in the matter of Cindy Hill. Which you all now know was later deemed 'Unconstitutional'. Seeking to strip Cindy of her duties as Superintendent of Public Instruction and thereby hurling distain and insult via their insidious act upon the Free People of Wyoming!

And not to forget to mention, the most recent additional Gas Tax Hike that was put into law without our consent and or an appropriate justification of same.

These are very serious matters and demonstrates a defiant and willful continuation to erode our very Liberty and Right to Vote by the folks we all elect-employ to do the work of the People.

And to our shame the recent Wyoming local and state primary election results show a seemingly ill-informed and or careless electorate as we have given yet again many of those incumbents complicit in the above noted infractions of Liberty and Law the chance to do more of the same.

Lest we all forget, it is our ‘Constitutional Right’ to have a voice and vote in All maters (and that includes the wrongfully enacted Law of the Lottery Tax) as pertains to our lives and fate as citizens of the State of Wyoming.

See for yourselves, it is clearly stated in our State Constitution from the very onset with these words:

"ARTICLE 1

DECLARATION OF
RIGHTS

Sec. 1. Power inherent in the people.

All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness; for the advancement of these ends they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper"

For further consideration and review please also use the following reference link to my previous comments and supporting documentation also there linked as to the case I made seeking the Lottery Tax Law 's REPEAL et al:

We deserve a Better Managed, more Transparent and Accountable Government that does not give only lip-service to and use petty acts of pandering upon its constituent-employers to be re-elected. But rather, a Government which adheres to the law as put forth in the Wyoming State Constitution - all those hired and elected who swore to uphold it upon accepting the offices they now retain.

Darryl Szymanski
Sheridan, WY

On a slightly different but somewhat related note, for all those yet unaware I am now at a juncture whether or not to move forward from the results of my 5-day solo WY2014 Write-in Campaign bid for elected office which I started just prior to the Primary Elections held on Aug. 19th.

Notification came via a phone call last Friday just before noon from Brenda Kekich, Election Supervisor with the Sheridan County Election Office. Brenda informed me that I have secured a position on the Nov. 4th ballot for a seat on the Sheridan City Council for a 4-year term if I want it.

And that now remains the question of the hour as it is there are two incumbents who moved on to the Nov. 4th ballot now joined by three Write-ins including myself all vying for three seats.

That said, if one of the other Write-in Candidates (in particular Thayer Shafer) should decide to run for the 4-year term City Council seat rather than the one he was on the ballot for (the 2-year unexpired City Council seat) then I may defer to him as it is he is more than qualified and of a similar mind as myself on matters as here addressed above.

Thank you all for you time and consideration in the publishing the above proposed ‘Guest Editorial for Immediate Release: Liberty vs. WyoLotto’.

The purpose for my writing to each of you is to ask that you please take the time review the below e-mail which in-part addresses my challenge to the WY Legislature and Gov. Meade to immediately REPEAL the Lottery TAX Law as was passed last year.

Upon doing so, also please consider what if any part and responsibility you will now initiate toward that end in co-joined effort as the WY State body of County Commissioners.

As has been often and was again recently said of the federal ACA law by both Gov. Bobby Jindal and Senator John Barrasso, we don’t have to accept a ‘bad law’ and have it within our power to seek its immediate repeal and that goes for the WY Lottery TAX Law too!

Additionally and very sadly, Gov. Meade and the WY Legislature has recently shown all too often their true-colors on more than one occasion as to their harmful misjudgments and mismanagement of our affairs and can no longer be trusted and it has to stop now!

Need I remind any of you of the Cindy Hill fiasco and the new 10 cent gas-tax just to name a couple and both of which were voted in to law (the first UNCONSTITUTIONALLY mind you) with utter disregard to the will and without the full consent of the Free People of WY. To this I boldly say, no mas!

In closing, let me note that I do not require nor ask for your individual responses to my call for action on your behalf. I only ask that if this issue is of grave concern to each of you as it is to me (many others I have had contact with by-way of the on-going e-mail effort) then please escalate your unified voice in Absolute Firmness to the WY Governor and Legislature in like-kind.

If you all think not after having carefully read these short-order commentaries with data to back them then immediately afterward have a look in the mirror at who it is that lied to you the first time around for those of you who dastardly advocated for and voted the Lottery into law in 2013.

And remember, the person you see in the mirror is the one you all have to live with the rest of your lives. The very same ones who will be forever answerable to the Free People of WY you’ll meet in the daily go-round of life in the communities you all live in... a sobering thought if you ask me.

That said, are government’s most fundamental and essential purposes being served via the shameful and tyrannical imposition of a Lottery if forced upon its citizenry without their explicit consent by-way of a vote by the People???

Lotteries and gaming of any and all sorts are truly a vehicle used toward devious ends of destruction of a Free People and government should have NO part in that so quite the quandary or oxymoron here and I’m sure you agree???

Government in its purest form has NO business be in the business of quasi-ownership and operational management of a Lottery!
Especially one which wholly relies upon ad tactics to seduce its constituents into a form of unintended and coerced consumerism.

This shamefully accomplished no less by-way of repetitious and subliminal feel-good mind-conditioning ad manipulation in order to sell their tainted wares. And now also having to meet new fiscal quotas more revenues and new games. More staff along with CEO and employee pay raises and privileged benefits packages, incentive ‘Performance’ spiffs and bonuses. Endlessly having to feed the new Leviathan addition to a government already over-bloated, mismanaged and most often misallocating the hard earn tax dollars of a once Free and Thriving productive entrepreneurial People!

Legislators and Governor in Cheyenne hear this: You all have the power to reverse your choices to repeal/rescind the soon to be fully instituted new Lottery (TAX) Law and Enterprise. So do so and cut our losses now, thereby also sealing the fate of all WY residents toward more honorable and virtuous lifestyle outcomes for generations to come.

Do you have the moral integrity and strength of character to Get er Done?

Hope so, and just may set the stage for other states’ legislators to muster-up the courage to do likewise as well. And the legacy of such hard choices done in the face of overwhelming pressure to do contrary will speak volumes of each and all of you in the present-day as with in the Annals of WY history made Proud!

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